Bathrooms!

[Stephen]

I'm plasterboarding my bathroom today.

I have the 3 piece suite already.

We are having a cabinet made for the integrated basin and a cabinet made for the back to the wall toilet and a concealed cistern. Both are being made out of wood.

The floor and walls are being tiled right up to the ceiling.

My question is this:

WHich is better:

A. Tile all walls and floor and then fit the 3 piece suite

B. Fit the 3 piece suite and then tile around it?

I am currently favouring A as it means less cutting for the tiles and also it makes future replacement of the 3 peice suite easier as there would be no concerns about the new suite meeting up to the edges of the cut tiles.

Regards

Stephen.

[Davey]

At that point, I wondered why you would be installing a sofa and chairs in your bathroom. I just don't associate "3 piece suite" with bathroom fittings. "Bathroom suite", no problem.

[Capitol]

I do A every time, unless I have to undercut the bath edge into the plaster because of space, but get the razor points or any other electrics in first.

[stuart noble]

I think B for the bath and A for the rest is probably the norm

[Nightjar]

Good idea, if you have a large enough bathroom. You could entertain guests whilst in the bath.

[The Medway Handyman]

But, please, not while you are on the loo!

[Fredxxx]

Why? The open space makes tiling easier. There may well be access issues as well as a lot more tile cutting!

Unless there was a good reason not to, I would do A, where I would mark the walls around the bath so as not to waste too many tiles where they wouldn't be seen.

[David]

I think B is the norm because that way you recess the bath behind the bottom edge of the tiles and that has a better chance of making a water proof seal which lasts even if the bath flexes.

If you have the bath just touching the tiles I think you will find that after a time it will leak water down the back and side.

Cheers

Dave R

[Fredxxx]

On the surface that sounds a very good point.

However, my experience is that the bath/floor sink a little opening up a gap which is now impossible to fill without being obvious. It may be possible to jack up the bath to compensate.

That depends on how uniform the gap is. I have used a small PVC angle in conjunction with silicone sealant to assist in sealing.

[Nightjar]

What I did was to fix battens around the walls to support under the edge of the bath. These battens then also provided a support for the bottom row of tiles.

Usually, leaking sealant is the result of applying it with the bath empty. If you fill it with water before applying the sealant and keep it full while it sets, the sealant is not in tension when the bath is later filled.

[Roger Mills]

On 11/04/2015 17:06, Nightjar

+1 When our bath was fitted - just over 20 years ago - it was fitted first, and then the tiles brought down to within a gnat's of the lip. It was then filled with water, and sealant was applied and allowed to cure before the bath was emptied.

It's still fine - and looks 100% neater than it would with a plastic strip between bath and wall.

[harryagain]

You can buy a plastic "angle" that fits round the bath to make a watertight joint where it meets the wall. It's an extremely good thing if the vertical lip goes under the tiles rather than on top. So tile first if you want to, but leave the row above the bath until the bath is fitted. Then put on your angle (bedded into the tile cement) having cut your tiles to a good fit.

Saves water getting own the back of the bath and affecting the floor boards.

Same applies (even more so) to shower trays.

[stuart noble]

Yes that always looks a bit naff to me. Even if a gap develops between tiles and bath (unlikely IME) at least the bath edge is recessed so water is unlikely to get down the back

[Tim Watts]

On 11/04/15 17:06, Nightjar What I did was to fix battens around the walls to support under the edge

I did similar - with 2x4" firmly fixed to the wall, both ends and the side of the bath.

It made a plastic bath incredibly firm too.

Based on previous excellent advice, I injected silicon between the bath and wall at this point.

Then I tiled down to the bath, but stopping the tiles about 1/8" above the top surface.

This gap was also pumped full of silicone[1] and finished nicely.

[1] Although I would probably elect to use a better product that was not silicone, perhaps Geocell TheWorks which I *think* is am MS Polymer. I've had a couple of bits of silicone fail but because I have the second line of defence it's not caused a problem.

[alan_m]

Fill the bath BEFORE sealing it to the wall

[Johnny B Good]

Just like the one in the control room of the "B" Ark sent out from the planet of Golgafrincham perhaps?

[Tim Watts]

That may be counter productive if you have fully supported the edges with wall battens - I can see the bath pulling down with the weight of water pivoting the edges up.

I did not fill mine before the final silicone - aside from the fact I'd have had to been in it to reach the far end with the risk of water contaminating the sealing surfaces.

[Chris French]

In message , Tim Watts writes

When I fitted a plastic bath in the old house, that's the sort of thing I did. It was good and firm.

Though in this house I have fitted a steel bath and that is just clamped to the wall. Tiling first and then putting in the bath sounds like it would look at bit pants really - and not have as a good a seal. The edges of a bath are normally curved so you would have a big gap at the top - ditto the corners.

[Bill Wright]

I shouldn't wear it for such a messy job unless it's very old.

Bill